Double-murder trial remains on track as Calgary judge elevated to Alberta's top court

A Calgary judge who was elevated Monday to Alberta's Court of Appeal will still preside over a high-profile, double-murder trial as her final case in the province's superior court.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Beth Hughes is hearing pre-trial motions in the Edward Downey double-murder trial, which is set to begin in front of a jury on Nov.26.

Downey is accused of killing a Calgary mother and her five-year-old daughter in July 2016.

On Monday, after news of her appointment, Hughes told the lawyers involved in the Downey case that she would finish the trial before beginning her work on the province's top court.

First female Chief Crown

Hughes was Calgary's first female chief Crown prosecutor and was appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench in 2001.

She has presided over numerous headline-making cases in the province including the Applewood arson case.

In 2006, Hughes found Abdulazziz Ellahib guilty of two counts of manslaughter and arson causing bodily harm after two crack addicts testified they were paid $120 to throw a Molotov cocktail into an Applewood condo in November 2004.

Two children died and their mother was injured jumping out of a window to escape the fire.

Ellahibwas angry at the children's father for having an affair with his wife.

In 2014, Hughes found Trevor Kloschinsky not criminally responsible for killing retired RCMP officer Rod Lazenby.

Lazenby was working as a peace officer when he responded to an animal complaint at Kloschinsky's Priddis home. He was strangled and beaten to death by Kloschinsky before he was driven to a Calgary police district office.

Hughes found Kloschinsky was suffering active psychosis when he killed the peace officer and was unable to understand his actions were morally wrong.

Beyond her work in Alberta, Hughes is also a deputy judge in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and has presided over jury trials in those three jurisdictions.

On Monday, the Alberta Court of Appeal also gained Edmonton's Justice Dawn Pentelechuk to its roster.

Pentelechuk has been a judge in that jurisdiction since 2013.

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